Now is the time for action to end human trafficking in our nation’s capital, said DC Council MemberPhil Mendelson, chair of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. While I am working within the DC Council to advance legislation, outreach efforts and community awareness about trafficking are imperative to end this brutal crime. Mendelson introduced the “Prohibition Against Human Trafficking Act” this year in response to reports indicating the unacceptable level of human trafficking in Washington DC.
As September comes to an end our Nation’s Capital, wraps up a successful Human Trafficking Awareness Month. DC has united to bring the face of modern slavery and human trafficking to the forefront. In just a few days the city is truly going to take the fight against child trafficking to the streets, as citizen politicians, musicians and activists unite for the first ever Walk Against Child Trafficking.
Join the entire anti-trafficking community for this ground breaking event, which will be the largest anti-trafficking event in DC history! So far more than 600 have already signed up to walk against child trafficking, this September 26, 2009 at Meridian Hill Park from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. The walk will be the largest anti-human trafficking event in the District’s history and walkers nationwide have already raised more than $200,000 to combat trafficking.
When:
Saturday, September 26, 2009.
Time:
Registration opens at 9:00 am and the Walk begins at 10:00 am
Walk Starts at:
Meridian Hill Park
15th St NW and Euclid St NW
Washington DC
Join:
To register for the walk click here!
Joining Mendelson to speak at the walk will be: Dr. Mark Lagon, former Ambassador-at-Large and director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department and current Executive Director and CEO of Polaris Project; former U.S. Representative Linda Smith (R-WA) and current president of Shared Hope International; and Dr. Laura Lederer, former Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons at the State Department. Prominent non-profit officials will also be well-represented at the walk. Non-profit luminaries will include Sarah Symons, executive director of the Emancipation Network; Andrea Powell, co-founder and executive director of Fair Fund; and Ray Lian, lead organizer of the citizen activist group DC Stop Modern Slavery. Prominent authors Aaron Cohen, author of Slave Hunter and Ben Skinner, author of A Crime So Monstrous will also speak following the walk.
Following the walk and speakers, all will be entertained by the delights of performers including: DC-based progressive rock band Army of Me, Virgina based country singer Marthia Sides, local hip hop group LPF, and DC institutions the Walidane DrumGroup and Carol and Brock.
The DC walk is just one of many taking place across the nation, the effort of which is being coordinated by Stop Child Trafficking Now, a non-profit working to curb the demand for sex trafficking.
Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing illicit industries in the world. According to UNICEF, an estimated 2.5 million children, primarily girls, are sexually exploited in the multi-billion dollar commercial sex industry. Nearly 60 percent of those enslaved are children while more than 80 percent of people living in slavery are used as sex slaves.
The amazing efforts of the Capital’s walk is being spearheaded by DC Stop Modern Slavery, a citizen activist group which set it’s roots in the district in 2004 with a small group of concerned citizens. The group which began in a church where they met to discuss the , issue of human trafficking, now only five years, the group has grown to an action-oriented all-volunteer grassroots organization with more than 670 members devoted to combating modern-day slavery in all forms. Leveraging the unique strengths of its diverse and growing membership, DC SMS is at the forefront of the anti-trafficking movement in the DC Metro area.
